“W-Wow, what an incredible crowd! They’re overwhelmingly loud! Is the whole of Altoire here?! It’s so crowded I’m almost envious of the people looking down comfortably from the top floors of their buildings!”
“The first skiff is arriving at the port! Finally! Finally, those chosen fighters who just lost in the preliminaries will be departing for the main tournament island! Will the fires of victory rise in their names, or will their revenge be thwarted in front of the chosen winners once again?! Expectations for the tournament are at an all-time high!”
Kikirira was right—the noise was deafening.
“Whew... I’m really glad I wasn’t on the ground...”
I absolutely agreed.
After a day of much work, I took a bath, had dinner, gave thanks to my lack of homework, and prepared to go to bed. Just as I was managing to relax, Reliared came along to watch magivision with me, her first evening visit in a while. You could say that this also fell under our work description, since it was a review of today’s recordings.
What we were seeing now were the valiant winners of the losers’ matches returning to the tournament island having secured themselves a place. A procession of extravagant skiffs on which the returning competitors were sitting was slowly moving through the main street. The sight of everyone gathering to cheer and send off the once-fallen martial artists was not unlike the departure of heroes going off to war.
Josecotte and Kikirira were the two hosts braving the chaos to deliver the occasion to magivision, yelling so their voices could be heard over the raucous cheers. The camera itself was struggling to remain still, the image on the MagiPad rough and unsteady, just as chaotic as the situation itself.
Usually, this would have been the kind of recording that would be tossed in the trash, completely amateurish in every way.
But it was fun. Seeing both the camera and the presenters trying their hardest to fight against the traffic gave a completely different atmosphere than if it had been still. The rougher the recording, the more it felt like you were there in person, feeling the insane energy of the crowd.
When the last skiff arrived at the port, the scene changed to show the competitors boarding the airship. It was now Reliared and the Silver crew’s turn.
Honestly, the most exciting part is over now.
Apparently, Reliared felt the same way because she turned to chat with me instead. “I’d heard the main street was busy, but I didn’t realize it was that busy.”
“Yes, I imagine it was difficult to record in.” I’d never have considered doing it myself. I couldn’t be sure if I would’ve managed to hold myself back from punching those who got in the way. Actually, we would probably have done as Kikirira had said and found ourselves a quiet place to record atop a building or something. In comfort, naturally.
The only reason this recording turned out like this was because of the junior crew’s poor setup and poor preparation.
No, maybe it’s unfair to go that far. They were students without the necessary experience. While their recording skills were improving all the time, they shouldn’t be expected to have perfected the necessary preparations.
Actually, hold on... Could this have been intentional? Had Wagnes deliberately chosen to record on the scene without preparing a proper recording location? Did he deliberately choose to record like this so they could capture the sheer commotion? Had he believed that all his staff and Kikirira and Josecotte would carry out their tasks?
If that was the case, then Wagnes was definitely someone worth keeping an eye on. Would he one day apply to join the royal broadcasting station? Perhaps the Listons could scout him? Actually, he said once that his family lived in the capital, so probably not. If I recalled correctly, I’d also heard mention of him being a low-rank aristocrat... Guess we won’t be able to.
“I envy the young.”
Regardless, what we were bearing witness to was a recklessness and savagery that only youth could bring. I couldn’t do that anymore. Any failures I made on magivision would remain forever. This wasn’t the kind of adventuring I wanted to be doing.
“Huh? What are you talking about? You’re the same age as me.”
On the MagiPad now was a red-haired child introducing the competitors boarding the airship and their history. The one who went around doing simple interviews with them later was me, by the way. Hildetaura was the one to greet them on the tournament island. We already knew how the rest of the recording went, so there was nothing we were really that excited to watch. We were just letting it run in the background.
“Say, who do you think will win?” Reliared asked.
“Huh? Win?”
Now that I thought about it, I’d never had a conversation like this with Reliared. We’d been exchanging notes on who we thought looked strong and other basic information about the competitors because it was a necessary part of our job—she’d literally had to just talk about them on magivision there. We’d never spoken about them beyond that, though.
Who will win, hmm?
I turned the question back on her. “Who do you think will win?”
“Esuella said that Leeno will definitely win the bare-handed division. I’d agree.”
So that was how her attendant read the competitors, hmm? She was quite strong herself, but she hadn’t entered the tournament. Then again, why would a regular attendant enter a martial arts tournament to begin with?
Leeno as the winner... She was the favorite of this whole tournament, but—and this didn’t mean I wanted her to lose or anything—things going as expected was just too boring. It was because everyone was certain she would win that I wanted someone to completely overturn those expectations.
“I personally think Gandolph has a chance.” He was definitely the fighter with the best chance to beat Lynokis.
“Huh? Master?”
Oh right, I forgot that Gandolph was Reliared’s teacher.
“Not to be mean, but is he really that strong?”
If Gandolph won, that would mean someone who was right nearby had secretly been really strong all along. There were moments like this where the closer someone was to you, the harder it was to believe.
“He is. Very much so.” To be frank, the real question was whether or not there was anyone in the bare-handed division who could breach Gandolph’s defenses. If his opponent wasn’t using chi, they’d barely leave a scratch, no matter how much they punched and kicked. Naturally, Gandolph would also then hit back. He was a big man—his hits would no doubt hurt. Going by that logic, the same would apply to anyone wielding a weapon against him. Even if they were wielding a blade, it would be impossible for them to land a lethal strike unless they were a skilled fighter.
I was a little curious about that little blue fox beastkin, Tohaulow. At a cursory glance, she wouldn’t be capable of breaking Gandolph’s defense either. But she was a Hero candidate from Slengradd; she had to be hiding something up her sleeve.
I’d also found myself wanting to cheer for Sonicspeed Zeon a little. Now that the wolfman had made it through to the next round, a lot of people were likely looking forward to his rematch with Gandolph, regardless of who won or lost. That expression he’d shown to the camera was one of a resolved martial artist. He would likely put every ounce of his energy into that fight. If that rematch came to pass, it would make for quite the spectacle.
“Hmmm... I dunno. I kinda can’t see Master winning.”
Aren’t you his student? You two are student and teacher of a club. You don’t have to believe he’ll win, but at least cheer him on. H-Huh? You are cheering him on, aren’t you?
“Who are you cheering for, Relia?”
“Definitely Leeno! She even appeared on my program!”
I was starting to feel bad for Gandolph. Masters didn’t like to be considered weak by their disciples. It was natural for them to hope that those they taught would cheer for them and believe in their strength unconditionally. Ah, and we wanted to be respected as well.
What is with our students and simply not getting it? Cheer for your master! That is practically your duty as his student.
“What about the weapons division?” Reliared asked.
“I don’t know if there’s a clear winner in the weapons division in the way that the bare-handed division has Leeno. What did your attendant say?”
“She thinks Lynette Bran, Young Master Neal’s attendant, will win.”
Not a bad choice. Lynette’s matches were quite dull, but she’d won them with steady precision. She didn’t stand out, but a trained fighter would be able to see that she was strong across the board. The only reason her matches were dull was because she would always fight at her own pace, never being led along or disrupted by her opponent.
It was always possible to win by being loyal to the fundamentals, even if you didn’t have some big, dramatic move. Being able to win with the basics was really the ideal way to be as a martial artist—the fundamentals were what you should be trained in the most. Though that didn’t change that the style made for a pretty dull viewing.
“There are six people I have my eye on.”
“Six?”
I counted them on my fingers as I listed them off: “Lynette, Anzel, Freeze. I think the winner will be among these three. I’m personally interested in Asuma. Sauzan Flameen and Lestra are the two whose strengths I can’t get a confident read of. Those three will at least rank high, I think.”